The talk hosted by the Fordham Center for Religion and Culture in New York was titled "A Moral Economy," but there was a larger topic overshadowing the presentation by Joseph Cardinal Tobin – the immorality of clerical sexual abuse.

"It's the elephant in the room," Tobin told the overflow crowd of 400 people at the Jesuit school's Lincoln Center campus last week.

He compared the scenario to what it would be like to deliver the same talk one week after 9/11. But, he promised, "the truth will come out and it will lead to healing and the restoration of trust."

He could not say as much about the economy.

Tobin's starting point was Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation "The Joy of the Gospel." In it, Francis writes that "growth in justice requires more than economic growth." He specifies a better distribution of income, more sources of income and -- the kicker -- an "integral promotion of the poor." That is, the economy has to alleviate poverty.

"This alarms many that clerics are meddling" in the economy to advocate for socialism, Tobin said.

Actually, the state of the economy today reveals that fewer people own more of the wealth with poverty on the rise.

"We must give witness in the public square and the marketplace," Tobin said, adding that Christian faith has a public dimension with a clear social context.

Tobin described Francis' themes as prophetic, pastoral and priestly.

"He wants a radical social change on the existential periphery of life," Tobin said.

He told a story of a black friend from decades ago when Tobin was a young priest giving Cursillos, a retreat program, in Detroit. The man asked Tobin if he loved him and Tobin said, of course. He then asked Tobin, "Is it because I am black?" Tobin replied, "I don't ever see that." "That's my point," the man said.

Today, Tobin said, we choose not to see the poor or those on the periphery "for who they are." Francis wants the church to minister to those people.

Francis believes in the common good and that work is noble, gives people dignity and allows them to support their families, Tobin said.

Sachs credited the Catholic church for its papal teachings from the late 19th century until today with Pope Francis' "Laudato Si" on climate change.

"There is no other place in global society to tell us things that we will not hear," said Sachs, who acknowledged that he never studied ethics in any of his schooling.

President Trump, whom he called a "psychopath," withdrew from the Paris Peace Accords because the Republican Senate is in the hands of the oil lobby, Sachs charged. Indeed, Sachs said, U.S. capitalism has one goal: "to go out and get wealthy."

"Greed is not good for the soul," he said. Yet, the bottom line of every corporation has to be earnings or it will fail. So Francis' concern for the poor is foreign to business and that's where Tobin called for "a revolution of tenderness."

In the Q&A that followed, moderator Christine Emba of The Washington Post asked the audience to think about one thing they could do once they left the auditorium to bring about a just, moral economy.

Since it was a nice evening, I decided to walk from Lincoln Center down Broadway to the 33rd Street PATH to see how many poor people I could spot. At 8 p.m., that stretch of Manhattan was hopping.

I saw a poor woman wearing a long-sleeve sweatshirt emblazoned with "MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY" just standing and staring at Columbus Circle. A bold beggar in Times Square just yelled, "Give one penny. One penny!" People with signs sat on the ground. People rifled through garbage for recyclables. Many more poor could be seen around Madison Square Garden.

Yet there seem to be even more beggars per square block in Hoboken than in New York City.

What Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said earlier that day in his Senate hearing was relevant. From his Jesuit education and Catholic faith, he has volunteered to help the poor. Something for all of us to consider.

Note: Cardinal Tobin, archbishop of Newark, is to lead a prayer service at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark on Friday, Sept. 14, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are invited to gather in prayer, recognition and hope for the victims of clergy abuse, for their families, for the accused, and for the church.